Alumni

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Words and meanings inspire alum to establish Dictionary Project

Mary French ’95 never dreamed that responding to a letter in the newspaper requesting help distributing dictionaries to school children would lead to establishing a nonprofit and traveling the globe. Initially, she was just looking for a way to use her English degree, but The Dictionary Project has grown into a major enterprise with dictionaries […]

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Young Alumni: Smith perseveres after life-changing car accident

In the midst of spring training of her junior year, the last place Rachel Smith thought she would end up was a hospital bed being told she would never play volleyball again. Smith was a junior on the volleyball team at Charleston Southern University when she was driving home from working at a restaurant in downtown Charleston on Feb. […]

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Joseph W. Stewart Jr. Endowed Scholarship established

The family of Joe Stewart, a member of the Class of 1969, presented a gift from Stewart’s estate to establish the Joseph W. Stewart Jr. Endowed Scholarship. Stewart died in 2001. He was an educator and spent his entire career teaching at Remount Road Elementary School in North Charleston. His cousin, William E. Spaulding Jr., […]

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Retired Air Force alumnus fights invasive lionfish

The state of Florida has crowned Ken Ayers Jr. ’78 of Panama City Lionfish King for the second time. He was Lionfish King in 2017 also. He completed more than 175 dives in 2019 hunting lionfish.  Killing more than 3,500 lionfish in the last three years, Ayers is doing his part to protect the Gulf of Mexico […]

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Young Alumni: Stephanie and Steven Daniels

When Stephanie and Steven Daniels graduated from Charleston Southern University in 2013, they married and moved in with her parents to save money. Stephanie, a nursing major, and Steven, a computer science major, paid off more than $100,000 in student loan debt in just three years.  Recently, Steven called Cady Nell Keener, assistant vice president […]

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Young Alumni Series: Joaline Diez ’19

How often have you felt that God was pulling you a certain direction yet you had no clue where that path would lead? That is exactly how Joaline Diez felt her freshman year at Charleston Southern University.  Diez has been dancing since she could walk, and when she discovered upon arrival at CSU that a […]

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CSU alum’s NFL connection

Jordan Lane has covered a lot of ground since receiving his CSU athletic training degree in 2017. He’s earned a Master of Science in advanced athletic training from the University of South Carolina, worked with the USC football team and served as a graduate assistant at Benedict College, a Division II HBCU. Currently, Lane can […]

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A CSU Degree leads to individual freedom for Gamkredlize

At the intersection of Europe and Asia lies the Republic of Georgia. The country, most recently occupied by the Soviet Union, is known for its grand centuries-old cathedrals, ancient cities and vineyards, mighty mountain peaks and hospitable people. Georgians, like David Gamkredlize ’08, are eager to share their homeland’s history, culture and selfless desire for stability.  Gamkredlize spent his entire life in […]

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Bruneau confronts his past through writing

Robert “Bobby” Bruneau ’95 set out to write a memoir. Along the way, the memoir turned into historical fiction with the names changed in the story to protect those he was writing about.  Interested in writing since he was a child, Bruneau wrote a lot of poems and eulogies for friends. People kept telling him he should write […]

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Five CSU grads ordained on one day

Recently, Summit Church ordained five young men to the ministry, all of them graduates of Charleston Southern. Summit, which meets on the campus of Charleston Southern University, is a multigenerational congregation that disciples all ages.  Nick Ballenger, executive pastor, said, “We created an initiative called Summit Labs which offers practical pastoral training, along with opportunities […]

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